I wasn't sure what kind of title to put on this. I have a vb.net app that accesses data from our SQL Server. The crux of the discussion lies in the fact that we have 3 laptop users that need to use the application when out of the office. Previously we did the same thing using Access (before we upgraded our app and started using SQL Server 2005) and all they would need to do was to copy the *.mdb file locally. Pretty easy since the file wasn't huge. Yes, they were out of date until the next time they updated the db file which was rarely an issue but did cause a problem a time or two.
My point of discussion is 'what is the best way to handle these laptop users?'. There are a number of factors that may go into who gets the points on this and they are almost too numerous to list but here are a few: I'm not an SQL administrator (I can structure tables and create SP's and functions and pretty nigty queries but it stops there); this needs to be a fairly easy solution (again, I'm not an SQL admin); I do not want to use IIS or any other backdoor holes for getting the data remotely, I'm a big fan of having access to the data stored locally (on the laptop) when roaming. The size of the .mdf file is just 50MB and the log file (.ldf) is 1GB.
I've thought about a SSMS routine that would just do a straight copy but then we still have the issue of data being out of date (they are all in the office more than they are out and are never out for more than a couple of days). With that solution we still have a discussion about how to copy the db (copy-backup, copy wizard, etc...). I've also thought about replication which is really new to me. I've thought about Terminal Services to access the application instead but I just don't feel that it's the best solution.
The application searches for the network database and if it does not find one then it will ask to run locally. What I'd ultimately like to have is the local database get updated with the push of a button (eg. a script). I'd also like it to just get changes since the last update (differential) to limit the data amount of data that needs to go across the line.
I realize I have not given enough information but I'd really like to illicit the opinions of the experts.
Thanks very much!
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